Websites for Educators

Museums and the Web 2005
Best of the Web Awards
By Jim Angus, MER Board Member and BOW Judge

Each year, museum webmasters, educators, curators, librarians, designers, managers and directors come together to assess the state of museums and their use of the web at the annual Museums and the Web Conference.

In the months that precede the meeting, museum web sites from around the world are nematode and judged by an international panel. The results are announced during the annual Best of the Web award session.

The Winner in the education category was "Making the Modern World Online - Stories about the lives we've made" presented by the Science Museum in London.

Here is some of what the judges had to say about "Making the Modern World Online":

• Learning Modules are an exemplary illustration of what a museum can do with its collections to support specific educational usages for the K-12 educational system.
  
  
• Two of the most compelling aspects of education are the notion of relationships and theory/application. This site addresses both in an elegant manner.
  
  
• The aspects I find most appealing are the open questions (inviting students to probe further) and the related material grid at the bottom of each module. This site promotes higher order learning while keeping the user engaged with visuals, flash demonstrations such as the space race, and simple narratives ...
  

More examples of fine websites recognized at Museums and the Web 2005...